His sermon never said or showed

That earth is foul, that heaven is gracious, Without refreshment on the road,

From Jerome or from Athanasius ; And sure a righteous zeal inspired The hand and head that penned and planned

them, For all who understood admired,

And some who did not understand them

Where is the old man laid ? Look dowr

And construe on the slab before you, “Hic jacet Gulielmus Brown, Vir nulla non donandus lauro."

WINTHROF MACKWORTH PRAED

He wrote too, in a quiet way,

Small treatises, and smaller verses, And sage remarks on chalk and clay,

And hints to noble lords and nurses ; True histories of last year's ghost;

Lines to a ringlet or a turban ;
And trifles for the “Morning Post”;

And nothings for Sylvanus Urban.

FORTUNE-TELLER.
FROM "THE COMEDY OF ERRORS."

A Hungry lean-faced villain,
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man. This pernicious slave,
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer;
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face, as 't were, outfacing me,
Cries out, I was possessed.

SHAKESPEARE,

He did not think all mischief fair,

Although he had a knack of joking; He did not make himself a bear,

Although he had a taste for smoking; And when religious sects ran mad,

He held, in spite of all his learning, That if a man's belief is bad,

It will not be improved by burning.

SWAGGER.

And he was kind, and loved to sit

In the low hut or garnished cottage, And praise the farmer's homely wit,

And share the widow's homelier pottage. At his approach complaint grew mild,

And when his hand unbarred the shutter The clammy lips of fever smiled

The welcome that they could not utter.

FROM "MERCHANT OF VENICE"

I'll hold thee any wager, When we are both accoutred like young men, I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, And wear my dagger with the braver grace; And speak between the change of man and boy, With a reed voice ; and turn two mincing steps Into a manly stride ; and speak of frays, Like a fine bragging youth ; and tell quaint lies, How honorable ladies sought my love, Which I denying, they fell sick and died, I could not do withal ; – then I'll repent, And wish, for all that, that I had not killed them : And twenty of these puny lies I 'll tell ; That men shall swear I have discontinued school Above a twelvemonth : I have within my mind | A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks, Which I will practise.

He always had a tale for me

Of Julius Cæsar or of Venus ;
From him I learned the rule of three,

Cat’s-cradle, leap-frog, and Quæ genus. I used to singe his powdered wig,

To steal the staff he put such trust in, And make the puppy dance a jig

When he began to quote Augustine.

SHAKESPEARE.

Alack, the change! In vain I look

For haunts in which my boyhood trifled ; The level lawn, the trickling brook,

The trees I climbed, the beds I rifled ! The church is larger than before,

You reach it by a carriage entry; It holds three hundred people more,

And pews are fitted for the gentry.

THE TOILET. FROM "THE RAPE OF THE LOCK.” AND now, unveiled, the toilet stands displayed, Each silver vase in mystic order laid. First, robed in white, the nymph intent adores, With head uncovered, the cosmetic powers. A heavenly image in the glass appears, To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; The inferior priestess, at her altar's side Trembling begins the sacred rites of pride. Unnumbered treasures ope at once, and here | The various offerings of the world appear ;

Sit in the vicar's seat ; you ʼll hear

The doctrine of a gentle Johnian, Whose hand is white, whose voice is clear,

Whose tone is very Ciceronian.

I was soar this! Euch hour that came

Stith incremitting, hought.
Tome newer form of guif or shame,
Some newer care for thoughts

m Silmre &

I wish but what I have at will ;
· I wander not to seeke for more ;
I like the plaine, I clime no hill ;

In greatest stormes I sitte on shore, And laugh at them that toile in vaine To get what must be lost againe.

I kisse not where I wish to kill ;

I feigne not love where most I hate ; I breake no sleepe to winne my will ;

I wayte not at the mightie's gate.
I scorne no poore, I feare no rich ;
I feele no want, nor have too much.

Content I live; this is my stay,

I seek no more than may suffice.
I presse to beare no haughtie sway;

Look, what I lack my mind supplies.
Loe, thus I triumph like a king,
Content with that my mind doth bring.
I see how plentie surfets oft,

And hastie clymbers soonest fall; I see that such as sit aloft

Mishap doth threaten most of all.. These get with toile, and keepe with feare ; Such cares my mind could never beare. No princely pompe nor welthie store,

No force to win the victorie, No wylie wit to salve a sore,

No shape to winne a lover's eye, – To none of these I yeeld as thrall; For why, my mind despiseth all. Some have too much, yet still they crave; · I little have, yet seek no more.

The court pe cart I like ne loath,

Extreames are counted worst of all; The golden meane betwixt them both

Doth surest sit, and feares no fall; This is my choyce ; for why, I finde No wealth is like a quiet minde.

My wealth is health and perfect ease ;

My conscience clere my chiefe defence; I never seeke by bribes to please,

Nor by desert to give offence. Thus do I live, thus will I die ; Would all did so as well as I !

WILLIAM BYRD